DIMSUMNet: New Directions in Wireless Networking Using Coordinated Dynamic Spectrum Access

Recent advances in Software Defined Radio (SDR), wide band spectrum sensing, and environment aware real-time spectrum allocation [13, 10, 4] show promise of enabling the new paradigm of Dynamic Spectrum Access (DSA) networks. These networks aim to provide dynamic access to large swaths of spectrum which is currently statically partitioned and underutilized. Majority of research in this area has focused on free-for-all, opportunistic methods common in ad-hoc military applications [10, 12, 13, 15, 16]. In this paper, we argue that a simpler, pragmatic approach that offers coordinated, spatially aggregated spectrum access via a regional spectrum broker is more attractive in the immediate future. We first introduce two new concepts, namely, Coordinated Access Band (CAB) and Statistically Multiplexed Access (SMA) to spectrum that form the basis of our work. We then describe their implementation in the new DIMSUMnet network architecture consisting of four elements: base stations, clients, a Radio Access Network Manager (RANMAN) that obtains spectrum leases, and a per-domain spectrum broker that controls spectrum access. We also describe DIMSUM-RelayCluster – a multihop all-wireless architecture to illustrate application of coordinated DSA to fixed wireless access and mesh networks.